Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism., sentence 35
At last, he thought of a plan, so he went to one of Chief ’Ndabu’s former wives, who was called Elilli, and asked her what sort of ju-ju her former husband had to protect him against witches.
Who acts: chief, sort · What happens: think, go, call, ask, have, protect · To what, where: last, one, former wives, Elilli, chief, ju · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xii.--concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, sort), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 last | case |
| 2 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 thought | obl |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 last | punct |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 thought | nsubj |
| 5 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 plan | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 plan | det |
| 8 | plan | plan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 thought | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 went | punct |
| 10 | so | so | ADV | _ | 12 went | advmod |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 went | nsubj |
| 12 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | conj |
| 13 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 one | case |
| 14 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 went | obl |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 wives | case |
| 16 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 Ndabu | nmod:poss |
| 17 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 16 Chief | case |
| 18 | Ndabu | Ndabu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 wives | nmod:poss |
| 19 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 18 Ndabu | case |
| 20 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 wives | amod |
| 21 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 one | nmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 called | punct |
| 23 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 25 called | nsubj:pass |
| 24 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 called | aux:pass |
| 25 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 wives | acl:relcl |
| 26 | Elilli | Elilli | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 called | xcomp |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 asked | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 asked | cc |
| 29 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | parataxis |
| 30 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 asked | iobj |
| 31 | what | what | DET | PronType=Int | 32 sort | det |
| 32 | sort | sort | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 had | nsubj |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 ju | case |
| 34 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 sort | nmod |
| 35 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 36 ju | punct |
| 36 | ju | ju | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 ju | appos |
| 37 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 husband | nmod:poss |
| 38 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 husband | amod |
| 39 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 had | nsubj |
| 40 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 asked | ccomp |
| 41 | to | to | PART | _ | 42 protect | mark |
| 42 | protect | protect | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 had | xcomp |
| 43 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 protect | obj |
| 44 | against | against | ADP | _ | 45 witches | case |
| 45 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 protect | obl |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | chief | last | of a plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||
| 2 | go | past | chief | one of Chief's Ndabu's former wives | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to one=Initial_Location | ||||
| 3 | call | past · passive | Chief's Ndabu's former wives | Elilli xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | Elilli | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 5 | have | past | what sort of ju | ju's former husband nsubj | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | protect | to-infinitive | what sort of ju not said here | chief | against witches | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary against witch=Theme | |||
| 7 | sort | ju | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
Text: «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/9/35/